The 9:01: Memphis needs to tighten body camera requirements

Memphis police director Michael Rallings told the media on Tuesday that officers involved in a police shooting were placed on suspension.
Phillip jackson, The Commercial Appeal

The 9:01 is a weekday column on all things Memphis

Buy Photo

September 18 2018 - Michael Williams, president of the Memphis Police Association, second from left, at the scene where a driver was shot and critically injured by a Memphis police officer Monday evening in South Memphis. Martavious Banks, 25, was shot by an officer around 6 p.m. on Monday. The shooting followed a traffic stop in the 1200 block of Gill. Banks was taken in critical condition to Regional One Hospital, the police department said.(Photo: Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal, )Buy Photo

Good morning from Memphis, where Downtown's alleyways could get revamped and a Chamber official says business should control economic development. But first...

Memphis will pay about $1.3 million this year to capture and store police officers' body camera footage, part of an agreement that could cost $10.7 million over six years.

But that's money down the drain if officers ignore police policies and switch off the cameras, as two officers appear to have done Monday night "during the pursuit" of 25-year-old Martavious Banks, according to Police Director Michael Rallings, as quoted by our reporter Micaela Watts. The officer who actually shot Banks also had his camera off, although police said they were, somehow, unclear whether the camera was actually on.

Banks, a father of two, was still in critical condition early this morning, Watts reports. Meanwhile, the officers have been relieved of duty pending an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which was called in yesterday afternoon.

CLOSE

The scene at the Sept. 17 shooting in South Memphis was tense as friends and family of Martivious Banks demanded answers.
Memphis Commercial Appeal

From Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich:

"The Memphis Police Department made me aware today of new information related to last night’s shooting. Based upon this information and with the full agreement of the Memphis Police Department, I have asked the TBI to conduct the investigation."

Were officers right to shoot Banks? We still don't know. But it doesn't look good. His mother and others say he was shot in the back, but police have yet to confirm that. We don't know if the gun was his. Also, Rallings said officers pulled Banks over so they could check his insurance. That was it? He wasn't speeding? Wasn't running a red light?

And then there's the eyewitness testimony from Thoedus Hibbler, who says he watched the officers shoot Banks, his neighbor, from his front porch.

"As he got out of the car, they started (shooting). There was no lights on, no sirens, nothing. It was like, he started running from them and they just started shooting right away."

My first instinct is always to wait for all facts to emerge before passing judgment, but this officer shooting does not look good. No cop turns off his body cam unless he’s trying to hide something. If he’s doing the right thing, he wants the evidence to validate his actions.

Even if the shooting was justified, officers were clearly in the wrong to turn off — or fail to turn on — their body cameras. Perhaps it was an oversight. Perhaps it was a malfunction. Perhaps it was intentional. Whatever the case, the failure of the officers means we may never know what really happened at Gill and Pillow in South Memphis.

But now that Rallings knows officers aren't following departmental policy, his reaction should be swift to hold officers accountable. Like Democracy, justice dies in darkness.

Beautifying Downtown's alleys: I love Downtown Memphis' old brick-walled alleyways full of the smell of kitchens and the river. And sometimes dumpsters. Avoid those.

Buy Photo

Barboro Alley is one of Downtown Memphis' busier alleyways, thanks in part to the out-of-the-way entrance to Belle Tavern. The Downtown Memphis Commission hopes to enliven other alleyways in the area with artwork, stamped paving and lights.(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

Many of the alleys could use some work, though. And that's where the Downtown Memphis Commission comes in: The organization is looking for artists to beautify a stretch that begins in Stereo Alley, continues down Maggie H. Isabel Street to Rendezvous Alley, and ends at Escape Alley, according to the Memphis Flyer.

The idea is to curate a diverse collection of public art, according to the DMC. Eligible types of projects include sculptures, artistic lighting, murals, video projections, and interactive and kinetic pieces. All projects have to be suitable for outdoor display for at least three years.

The project, called The Artery: Stereo to Escape, will include four murals costing $500-$10,000 each, a sculpture costing $20,000-$30,000, new paving with stamped asphalt and string lights, according to the story. If you're an artist, apply here.

Look for the project to open in mid-April.

Business vs. government: Who should control the direction of Memphis' economic development? Buried in this TheDaily Memphian story about a town hall meeting Monday in Hickory Hill, David McKinney, senior vice president of public policy for the Greater Memphis Chamber, gives an interesting answer to the question:

McKinney told the group that the city’s economic development pursuit has to change to an equation where business leads and elected leaders follow, which he says is the case in other cities including Nashville.

“Here government leads in economic development,” McKinney told the group “We (business) don’t get elected. We don’t get voted in and out. We are a stabilizing force.”

His comments come as the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission weigh changes to the structure of the Economic Development Growth Engine, which is the primary tool for giving out economic development incentives to businesses. There's been talk of a city-only industrial development board, among other proposed changes.

There's something to what he's saying. Compared to the sometimes upside-down world of politics, the business community can indeed be a "stabilizing force." One of the reasons for EDGE's creation was to take the politics out of the equation.

But unlike business leaders, elected politicians are chosen and accountable to the people — at least, that's the ideal. Neither business nor government should completely control Memphis' economic development future.

Good reads:

The owner of Aretha Franklin's childhood Memphis home is now current on her property taxes, Ron Maxey reports. There's a push to redevelop the site into a shrine for the late and legendary soul singer.